One year later, still no justice for slain Tacoma teen

TACOMA, Wash. -- On a park bench, on the cusp of an anniversary, a mother knows not what next week will hold.

"I keep wondering: How is Monday going to feel?" asked Shalisa Hayes. "Am I going to crumble when that day comes?"

Monday will mark one year since her son was taken from her - one year when 17-year old Billy Ray Shirley should be marking the end of high school, thinking about a future, and investing in his Tacoma neighborhood, where he spent endless hours volunteering.

Instead, in that year, the person who gunned him down at a Tacoma party has walked free; free from justice, free from jail. His murder - along with a second one that police have tied to a motorcycle gang - remains unsolved.

"I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, nor do I find myself getting angry about it," Hayes said about her son's unsolved murder. "Whether it's in a courtroom or in that person's bedroom, they're suffering some sort of way. Their judgment day will come."

While judgment has been elusive, joy, however, has not. Since Shirley's death, dozens of teens have been carrying out his vision, cleaning up parks, donating turkeys to needy families on Thanksgiving and raising thousands of dollars to help build a community center. They've also helped establish a foundation in .